Eat. Drink. Be Manly.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Forget Campbell’s Chunky. This is truly a soup that eats like a meal. This will also be the first of several recipes that feature a $5 Costco rotisserie chicken. If you’ve never had the pleasure of eating a fresh Costco rotisserie chicken, then my friend you are missing out. Enjoy, you scallywags. BTW remember when talking like a pirate was popular? What ever happened to that?

I had trouble fitting this all into one frame:

Here are some seasonings. Very similar to what you might put into a chili.

This is how you carve the breast meat off a chicken.

Dice up your veggies.

Saute in some olive oil, then add the tomato paste to brown. Browning tomato paste caramelizes it and turns it into a huge flavor booster you can add to soups, sauces, etc. So good.

When the paste looks browned like this, it’s time to add your broth.

Next come the chili peppers. Hatch chiles are the real deal.

Chipotle peppers add a great smoky kick to your soup as well. Try it you might like it! Just make sure to mince it up real good.

Take two forks and shred up your chicken real good.

Add the chicken and black beans

Here’s a little trick, add some water to a tablespoon of corn meal and use as a thickener to your soup.

While your soup’s boiling, prep the garnishes. This is the fun part, so I’m told! Here’s how you dice an avocado without using a cutting board:

Scoop it out and add to your soup.

Throw in some chopped green onion, a few tortilla chips, a wedge of lime, and there you have it!

2 rotiserrie chicken breasts (recommended: Costco rotisserie chicken, but if you don’t have a membership you can get one from any old neighborhood grocer, OR you can just roast some chicken breasts on your own if you want to add an hour and a half to your cooking time)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
½ large onion, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-28 oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
1-2 oz can of diced green chiles (recommended: Hatch)
3 chipotle peppers, minced
32 oz chicken stock
2 tbsp corn meal (optional)
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

Garnish:

Tortilla chips
Avocado, diced
Green onions, sliced

Heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot over medium high heat. Add onions, red pepper, green pepper, and minced garlic. Saute until the onion gets soft, then add the spice mix. Stir to combine, then add the tomato paste. Saute until the tomato paste browns, then add broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.

Add the green chiles, the chipotles, and the fire-roasted tomatoes to the pot, then simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered. While it’s simmering, use two forks to shred up your chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces.

Mix cornmeal with a small amount of water. Pour into the soup, add the shredded chicken and beans, then simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Ladle into bowls, then top with garnishes. You can also add grated cheese and sour cream but we’ve been having trouble with dairy lately so we deferred. They’re really good though.